


Birdsong

by kyleiseverywhere



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 11:06:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5454380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyleiseverywhere/pseuds/kyleiseverywhere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been twenty years since the Ark fell from the sky and brought with it a deadly war that ravaged the last of mankind. Jay Blake has lived all of her life inside the walls of Camp Jaha, but ever since she can remember she's dreamed of the outside world. On her eighteenth birthday she is given her father's old journal and Jay finds herself beginning to unravel the secrets that surround her lost uncle, Bellamy Blake. With the hope that her family may still be alive somewhere, she escapes the camp so that she can uncover the truth. But the Arkers protected her from the forest for a reason and Jay will soon end up fighting not only for her life, but for her people too…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birdsong

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own The 100 or any of the canon characters, I promise.

_"Something had been buried that was not yet dead."_

_– Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong_

Dusk was beginning to settle as Jay sat on top of the thatched stable roof, watching as the sun disappeared beneath the treeline that poked above Camp Jaha's walls. Not for the first time, she longed to follow the sunset into the forest and beyond. But for a girl who had never even stepped foot outside of Camp Jaha, she didn't exactly know what  _beyond_  was.

With a wistful sigh, she turned her attention back to the slate board in her lap.

For what seemed like hours she had been sketching maps, each one more poorly drawn the last, but she persevered nonetheless. Tomorrow was her eighteenth birthday, the day that Chancellor Kane would tell her whether her request to start training with the scouts had been accepted or not. Jay knew that competent navigational skills were one of the basics for being a scout, and she also knew that scouts were some of the few people permitted to leave the camp as and when they pleased.

It was law in Camp Jaha that no one under the age of eighteen was permitted to leave the walls, and even most adults were fearful of the outside world. Jay knew that they had good reason to be scared – for years her people had fought for their right to live on Earth, only for one of their own leaders to betray them so badly that they named the war that followed after her – but it didn't mean that she shared their fear.

"Next time I'll break more than your nose!" A voice called out suddenly, snapping her attention back to the group that were sparring in the courtyard below.

Hudson Harper lay on the ground with his back crooked awkwardly, a wooden sword pressed towards his neck as his opponent stood above him victoriously. Blood streamed from the poor boy's nose, which Jay highly doubted was actually broken, and for a brief second he met her gaze then looked away abashedly.

"Cut it out, Dara," Jay shouted down at the victor, who had already been sharing a joke at Hudson's expense. "Everyone knows you don't fight fair."

"Says the girl who's never won a fight in her life?" Dara Wick shot back at her, a smug look on his face as he eyed the raven-haired girl.

He was right – Jay wasn't a fighter, not like her mother and father had been. Everyone in camp had heard the stories about her parents, Lincoln the Grounder and Octavia Blake, the girl who'd lived under the floor back on Ark Station. They were pretty much legends, and it went without saying that not living up to their warrior ways was a sore topic for Jay. Dara knew this, of course, and this wasn't the first time he'd pointedly said something about it.

In that moment she wished she was brave enough to jump down from the roof, pick up one of the practice swords and swing it right into his stupid face. At least that way he wouldn't be smirking at her in that arrogant, intimidating way of his. But that didn't happen, as it never did when Dara or one of the other kids in camp pissed her off.

"I'm sorry that my idea of fun isn't beating people up," she finally huffed at him in response.

"Fighting isn't meant to be fun, Jaybird," Dara called back, and then gestured for his band of friends to follow him back towards the barracks.

Jay watched as Hudson finally picked himself up off the ground, limping slightly on his right leg as he tried to stand. Reluctantly, she gathered her things into the leather satchel that her Uncle Jasper had given her last summer, and then climbed down to meet him in the courtyard.

"Aren't you sick of being their punching bag yet?" She asked the younger boy, who was trying in vain to stop his nosebleed.

"I don't need you to stick up for me," he grumbled in response.

It wasn't like they were friends, not really, but they had grown up together and Jay couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Instead of arguing back, she reached inside her satchel and retrieved her water canteen. Jay proceeded to peel off her cardigan and pour water onto one of the ratty sleeves.

"Here," she said as she handed Hudson the garment.

The boy accepted it with only slight hesitation, and then gingerly pressed the damp fabric to his nostrils.

"Try tilting your head back more," Jay encouraged him, earning only a scowl in response. "I'm just trying to help, Hud."

"I don't need your–"

"Yeah, I get it. Next time I won't offer," she grumbled, snatching the cardigan back from him. "Have fun explaining your messed up face to your mom."

With only one or two glances back to make sure he could actually walk alright by himself, Jay began making her way back down the hillside and towards the center of camp. The meadows quickly gave way to dozens of timber cabins and other makeshift buildings, all separated by winding dirt lanes and small plots of land that were used for gardening. Over the years Camp Jaha had transformed itself from the wreckage of Alpha Station into a sprawling town, with a market and school and more inhabitants than their resources could probably support.

Jay's home was on the far side of camp, where the last remaining of the original hundred lived. Uncle Jasper had once told her that during the first years on Earth, tensions had regularly been high between the Arkers and the "Delinquents", as he and his friends were known at the time. It had been practical at the time for their neighborhoods to be distanced from one another.

It took her a good fifteen minutes to walk back, and by the time she shut the cabin door behind her the moon had already taken up its lonesome place in the night sky.

Uncle Jasper was already sat at their table, completely engrossed in the vials and beakers that were spread out in front of him. He didn't even bother to look up as he greeted the teenager, simply waving distractedly with one hand while he continued to write down his findings with the other. Jay didn't mind, though. Her uncle, the chemist, had always been like this.

"How was work at the stables?" Jasper asked as the girl slung her cardigan and satchel over the back of the spare chair. His eyes darted to the damp, red sleeve. "Is that  _blood_?"

"It's not mine," Jay told him unconcernedly. "Hudson Harper got the crap kicked out of him… Again."

"Unlucky boy. Too much like his mother."

"At least she isn't ungrateful," Jay muttered under her breath as she tended the embers that glowed in their hearth, a small smile spreading across her lips as the small fire came to life again. "And now I don't have anything clean to wear tomorrow."

"The Chancellor won't care about your clothes, little bird," Jasper told her, pausing to scratch his graying beard. "He will care about your mapping skills, though. Want to show me your work?"

Jay bristled at his request, knowing that her uncle wouldn't lie about how terrible her sketches were. Honesty had been a very important part of her upbringing. Reluctantly, she retrieved the slate board from her satchel and handed it over to him.

"Well," he began as he looked over one side of the board and then the other, "you've definitely gotten better."

"Don't be nice," Jay complained.

"They're really not as bad as the last few you've done, but they're still pretty bad. Is that meant to be a giant me?" He asked, squinting at the drawings.

Jay let out a huff and took the slate board back from him.

"It's the barracks, actually," she explained. "Oh! There's no way I'm getting a scout placement, is there?"

"We can't know that for certain. Why don't you make yourself something to eat and then get an early night? It is your big day tomorrow, after all," Jasper encouraged her with a fond smile.

For once in her life she did as she was told, knowing that there was really no point staying up late and allowing her nervousness to stew overnight. So after dinner Jay washed her face and cleaned her teeth with the stale-smelling powder her uncle had manufactured for camp residents, then climbed up to the loft space of the cabin. Her cot was almost too small for her body now, considering she'd grown several inches over the summer and now stood as tall as most boys her age, but Jay didn't mind as she curled up sleepily.

She fell asleep thinking of her parents, hoping that wherever they were in the afterlife that they would be rooting for her tomorrow.

* * *

 

The council chambers smelled as they always did – musty and metallic – and Jay was pretty sure nothing had been changed inside the large room since she was a small child. Still, the familiarity didn't help to make her feel any better as she and Jasper took their seats opposite Chancellor Marcus Kane. Instead she rubbed her clammy hands over her legs and tried to seem as calm as possible.

Kane was one of the camp elders, a relic of Ark Station's former government and a veteran of the Wanheda's War. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with an impressive white beard and kind eyes, and Jay could see that in his youth he was probably quite attractive. Maybe that was why he'd won the heart and loyalty of Dr Abby Griffin all those years ago, even though she was the mother of the Wanheda herself.

"Good afternoon, Jaybird," the Chancellor greeted her with a toothy smile that made his face fold into wrinkles. "And may I wish you a happy birthday, from myself and all of the council members."

Under the table she felt Jasper kick her leg, prompting her to respond – and to do so politely.

"Thank you," Jay murmured, pulling at a stained thread of her cardigan nervously.

"It seems like only yesterday that Jasper here brought you back from the Waste as a baby. Now I look at you and all I see is a young woman with a bright future," Kane told her earnestly, and Jay couldn't help but feel more hopeful as he continued to speak. "Shall we review your placement requests?"

"Yes," she replied quickly, then on second thought added a sheepish, "please."

Jasper shot her an encouraging smiling as Chancellor Kane cleared his throat.

"I understand that you've been spending a lot of time helping out at the stables, which is very commendable of you," he paused momentarily, and Jay couldn't help but cross her fingers as she waited for the old man to continue. "And I know that you requested a training placement with the scouts,"

This was it, she told herself. This was the moment she'd be told she was going to be able to go outside of the wall. She could barely contain her excitement.

"But unfortunately all places within the scouts have been filled for the time being," the Chancellor stated finally, a long silence following afterwards.

Jay felt hot tears prick at the corners of her eyes, but to let them fall would be childish and petty. Her dreams of becoming a scout had been dashed in about two seconds flat, and now all she wanted to do was run from the room in outrage, but that wasn't what an adult would do – even if their heart was breaking.

"Okay," Jasper finally responded for her. "Then what other kind of placement can Jay expect to take up?"

"Well, there are several other training positions available. Agriculture is always looking for more help and I know for a fact that the medical team want to take on a new apprentice," Kane offered up but his words sounded fuzzy and distant in Jay's ears. "I'm very sorry we weren't able to fulfill your original request, Jaybird, but I feel as though you have much to offer in other aspects of camp life. It's a decision you don't have to make today, of course."

"What do you think, little bird?" Jasper asked her with a soft nudge of his elbow.

"I don't know," she replied honestly. "I've never thought about anything but the scouts."

"I understand you're disappointed," the Chancellor told her as he stood up. He turned to one of the centuries old cabinets behind him, unlocking one of the lower drawers to retrieve a small item wrapped in cloth. "Hopefully this may make you feel better – it's a gift that I've been waiting to give to you for a long time."

Jay's brow furrowed as she took the parcel that was extended to her. "What is it?"

"Take a look," Kane said, his expression unreadable.

She carefully unfolded the cloth to reveal a battered and worn journal, not failing to notice a small dark brown stain on the cover that looked a lot like dried blood. Jay swallowed hard, and then opened it to find pages and pages of drawings: A mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke over the forest, a statue of a man in a hat that Jay didn't recognize, a woman on horseback with dark smudges around her eyes. But then there was a sketch of a pretty young woman that made Jay's breath catch in her throat.

"That looks like me," she murmured, looking up at her uncle and the Chancellor in confusion.

"It's your mother," Jasper informed her in a quiet voice. It was obvious he hadn't known the journal existed either. "Octavia. It's what she looked like when we first landed on Earth."

"What?" Jay exclaimed incredulously as she stared at the woman's paper face.

"The journal belonged to your father," Kane explained matter-of-factly.

"And you've had it all these years? You just kept it a secret from me?!" Jay didn't realize she was standing until she felt her uncle's hand on her elbow, pulling her back towards the wicker seat. She shook him off angrily, her eyes burning with rage as she stared down the Chancellor. "I can't believe you'd do this… That you'd hide something so important from me!"

The Chancellor shifted uncomfortable in his seat as he said, "This journal was brought to camp to be given to  _me_ , Jaybird, not you."

"Bullshit," she huffed back before she could stop herself.

Jasper ignored her language, instead leaning in towards the Chancellor with a dark look in his eyes.

"I'm taking her home, but we will talk about this later," he told the old man, his voice full of rage as he pulled Jay with him towards the doorway.

The young girl stormed ahead down the steel corridor, her father's journal clutched tight to her chest as she tried to stifle her sobs. Of all the things she'd expected to come out of this meeting, being betrayed was definitely not one of them. She didn't even care about being denied her scout placement anymore; her mind was swimming with questions and anger and hurt.

Jay didn't even notice the person blocking her way as she marched out into the clearing between the camp gate and Alpha Station. Their shoulder bumped roughly into hers, causing her to fall sideways into the mud with an unladylike snarl. The impact caused the journal to bounce away from her and into a puddle.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" A familiar voice barked at her and she looked up to find Dara Wick holding out a large hand towards her.

"I'm really not in the mood for this right now," she told him, slapping his hand away as she picked up the dripping journal and scrambled to her feet.

For a split second, Dara's expression seemed to soften as he noticed the tears that pooled in her eyes. Surprisingly, he stepped out of her way and let Jay pass him without uttering the insult that had been on the tip of his tongue.

Jay turned away from the pathway that led towards the Delinquent's neighborhood, instead heading up the hill towards the stable and adjoining meadows. Before she knew it she was running, so fast that her lungs burned and her muscles screamed against the exertion, but she didn't allow herself to stop until she was stood outside one of the greenhouses that had been built against the wall.

Without hesitation, the young Blake picked up one of large, heavy gardening tools and began smashing it into the glass again and again and again. She didn't stop until the building was completely shattered, and even then she didn't really any feel better.

The destructive tool dropped from her hands with a loud clang and Jay then fell to her knees in the mess of dirt and glass, the journal falling open beside her. With a blink she looked over to find her mother's face, beautiful and strong, staring back at her.

Not for the first time, Jay found herself wondering how it was even humanly possible that she could miss somebody she'd never met.

**Author's Note:**

> So there you go! This chapter is pretty much an introduction to Jay, her life and the story to come. I guess all you need to know at the moment was that something bad definitely went down between Clarke and the Sky People, and now she's this legendary commander who's never lost a war. Octavia and Lincoln lost their lives shortly after Jay was born, and they trusted Jasper to take care of baby Jay, which he did. Also, like in the season three trailer, at some point Octavia and Bellamy fell out with each other big time.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys like it so far. Any and all constructive criticism is welcome, thanks!


End file.
